Vecna

"The morning after the Feast of Himar, certain citizens of Fleeth came out of the town and entreated upon the besiegers to speak with Lord Vecna, the Whispered One, in his spidered pavilion. They told him they were ready to place the city and all their possessions at his discretion. provided their lives were spared. The Whispered One replied that he could not agree to such terms, nor indeed to any others. and that he would see the heads of all Fleeth stacked before him.   "Hearing his terrible utterance on their fate. these same burghers beseeched him to mercy, offering themselves if he would spare the good people of Fleeth. Perhaps the Whispered One was amused, for he ordered them to place one of their number, his family. and slaves into Lord Vecna's hands.   "Lots were taken and an upright Burgher, Goodman Artau, called his family from within the walls. 'Join me, for the Great Lord has granted us safety to leave this land,' he told his wife, seeking to ease her mind. Reassured by his gentle words. she and her children passed through the gate to join her husband. Pleased, the Whispered One gave them all over to Kas the Hateful.   "For a day, the burghers watched Goodman Artau and his family die at the hands of Kas. When at last it was done. the burghers pleaded to take their leave, certain their city had been saved. But the Whispered One turned to his barons and spoke to them. 'My Lords,' he said. 'the people of this city are ready to surrender it at my discretion, on condition that their lives are spared. However, I will not make peace with them on these terms. nor any others, except with your consent:.'   "'Our sagacious master,' replied the barons, 'we advise, and even beg you. to accept the terms they offer: But the Whispered One did not listen. That very day the mangonels and war-wizards were set up outside the walls. The assault went on for about five hours and then the wizened lord broke the walls of Fleeth with a wave of his hand.   "By the dawn. the heads of citizens were stacked before the burgers. Their own wives and children stared at them foremost. This was the humor of Vecna, and as his final cruelty, he allowed these burghers to depart in peace and guaranteed their safety for the remainders of their sorrowful lives."   —from The Chronicle of Secret Times by Uhas of Neheli   ”[...]the Serpent speaks directly to Vecna. Others daring to call themselves wizards, magicians, and sorcerers - manipulate the tiniest aspects of the Serpent and call it magic. But Vecna speaks to the Serpent, and the Serpent speaks back.”
-Vecna Reborn   Little is known of the wizard known as Vecna, except through myth and legend. The elves rarely speak of him despite being the focus of his malevolence. Even The Chronicle of Secret Times was written nearly a thousand years after Vecna's destruction, and is not a first hand account.   In his time Vecna was perhaps the mightiest of all wizards. Unsurpassed in his knowledge of all the arcane arts, Vecna was master of a kingdom now lost in the depths of the Flanaess's prehistory. Lord Vecna's rule was not kind and just, for he was filled with such malevolence that would make even the feared Iuz the Evil tremble. Some say his realm was beyond the great mountains to the west. Another theory holds his tower once rose from the very depths of the Nyr Dyv. A few writers even go so far as to claim Vecna's dominion extended over another plane and that he was ultimately destroyed by a revolt of the greater powers that dwelled there!   Even in life, Vecna's strictness and cruelty were infamous. He built a great kingdom based on his wizardly skills and his fiendish cruelty. Some tales claim he bred entire villages like cattle, simply to keep his foul laboratories supplied with subjects for his experiments. Others describe military campaigns where he annihilated entire cities beneath tidal waves of rock and earth. Old tales from the Duchy of Urnst even claim Vecna was responsible for the creation of the Bright Desert! Elven legends tell that he conquered and destroyed three out of the four elven kingdoms, forcing the fourth, Celene, to hide itself from the world.   It was during this time that Vecna mastered the power of Undeath, creating an army of undead soldiers and usng that army to conquer much of what would become the Flanaess. Although no one knows why, Vecna had a vendetta against the elves of Eastern Oerik.   With time, like all things human (although some tales claim he was half-elven), Vecna grew old and neared death. The black oblivion caused no terror in him, only anger and rage. He was determined not to die and in his conceit came to believe that immortality was not merely possible, but was his right. He began a search for the ultimate power needed to overcome the Greater Power, Death.   What happened next is not known for sure, as no witness from this time set his words to parchment. According to some tales, Vecna amassed enough power to confront his own death and forever imprison it, thus escaping his doom. According to others, Vecna's pride and arrogance so offended the Gods of the outer planes that cursed him to dwell forever on the border between life and death, never again to fully live or rest in tranquil death. A third version is that Vecna found the secret magic of life and thus transformed himself into the most powerful of liches.   Whatever the method, there is no doubt that Vecna entered a new stage of his foul history. Beyond death, he became the greatest of all liches. Even though his body gradually withered and decayed. Vecna remained "alive" and continued to expand his evil dominion. So formidable and hideous was his temper that men feared to speak his name. Lord Vecna was the Whispered One, the Master of the Spider Throne, the Undying King, and the Lord of the Rotted Tower.   It was during this time that Kas the Bloody-Handed rose to the fore among Vecna's lieutenants. As the arch-lich's body weakened. Kas became his instrument of rule. Though still supreme in his power. Vecna took less and less interest in the daily affairs of his kingdom. Kas pronounced Vecna's judgments, presided over the Council in Vecna's name, and heard the reports from Lord Vecna's foul army.   As a sign of Kas's authority (and to protect his lieutenant from the intrigues of others), Vecna forged the sword Oblivion for Kas, a magical weapon like none ever known. Tale-spinners say its iron was taken from the heart of a frozen star and forged in flames stolen from the sun. Though dull in color and unadorned, it shimmered with evil. Its edge could bite any metal and its blade never dulled. When Kas wielded it, no man could withstand him.   Fashioned by Vecna's hand, the sword was evil, even when compared to its creator. It whispered to Kas in secret voices, feeding the warrior's pride and vanity. "You are greater now than your master," it said, "You are the true ruler of all his lands." Slowly it seduced him, urging him to usurp Vecna's throne and send the arch-lich to death forever. And gradually Kas came to believe its words.   At last, emboldened by the Sword's sweet voice, Kas struck at his lord. No one saw the battle, but with its end Vecna's dark tower crumbled into dust, leaving only the sword and a pile of ash. The body of Kas was never found. Of Vecna, all that remained were his lifeless Hand and Eye.   Or so the story goes.   During Common Year 133 a band of adventurers sold an ancient Suel text to a bookseller in Niole Dra claiming to have recovered it from a ruined city in the Sea of Dust.   The tome, though untitled, contained the dates of a great many events and happenings, the most recent of which preceded the Invoked Devastation by nearly 200 years. What makes this book so relevant, however, is that it describes what many scholars regard as the finest and most accurate description of Vecna's Ineffable Variorum, as the text became known. This fact alone places the Variorum and, by extension, Vecna himself in the Suel lands prior to the Empire’s demise.   The Variorum has managed to evade inclusion in most historical records of the current millennium, for even vague reports of its whereabouts are few and far between. So far, only a mere handful have been confirmed. Even Uhas of Neheli’s famed Chronicle of Secret Times, which places Vecna in the Sheldomar Valley when the Kingdom of Keoland was still very young, makes no mention of the Variorum, thus implying that the tome may have been destroyed along with the Suel Empire.   Perhaps the most conclusive record that the Variorum survived the Invoked Devastation can be found in the journals of Eldarath Allythyr, a drow wizard from the drow capital city Erelhei-Cinlu. These journals relate the tale of how Eldarath came into possession of “a strange tome of flesh and bones,” and his use of a spell that “repels enemies in a wave of force and fire.” The journals were captured in CY 517, when Eldarath fell in the Stark Mounds to a circle of wizards from Geoff’s Society of the Magivestre, but when his body was searched, the Variorum was not among his possessions. It is difficult to authenticate this particular record, however, for comparative drow works are often as hard to come by as pre-Devastation Suel manuscripts.   Maybe the book was destroyed during the Invoked Devastation, or perhaps is and has always been a forgery. Whatever the case, Vecna's Ineffable Variorum has yet to surface, and undoubtedly it is better this way.   In the millennium and centuries that passed, these three objects, the Hand, the Eye, and the Sword, have surfaced time and again, first in one distant land and then another. Each time, their discovery brings great power and ultimately great woe, for the evil of their masters still lingers within them.   Tales ascribe strange and powerful abilities to the Hand of Vecna, still imbued with the unquenchable spirit of Vecna. The Hand is variously described as large and small, but all accounts agree that it is extremely withered and blackened, as if from a burned body.   The first recorded appearance of the Hand was during the Insurrection of the Yaheetes, 136 years after the passing of Vecna. With the overthrow of Paddin the Vain, leader of the clan, the Hand apparently disappeared.   During the reign of Hamoch of Tyrus. the hand was discovered by the fisherman Gisel. For several decades he kept it as a curiosity, until he was slain by his brother who stole the artifact. The brother was waylaid en route to Tyrus and the Hand fell into the possession of the outlaw Mace.   With a single gesture of the Hand, Mace is said to have struck down the gates of Tyrus and brought plague onto the royal house. Stories are told how spent one night in the royal bedchamber where he was visited by the spirit of Vecna. Undoubtably he changed, for the next day he ordered execution of his former followers to the wrathful shade.   In the 100 years of Mace's reign, the city of Tyrus grew in power, but it became ill-famed as the Slaughterhouse of the Western Shore. Mace (now styled Vecna the Second) was struck down by a Yemishite assassin when the power of the Hand inexplicably failed him.   Since that time the Hand has appeared briefly in a number of widely scattered lands. Most of these appearances are unsubstantiated, but the corruption of the Paladin-King of Miro is a well-documented case. Foolishly fixing the Hand onto his own arm. the Paladin-King discovered too late that he could not remove it and in end it destroyed him.   There are few records of the appearance of the Eye, but it has certainly been found from time to time.   Oblivion, the Sword of Kas, however, has surfaced now and again, but it is now without purpose since it slew it's creator, the arch-lich, Vecna. There are rumors that Oblivion is currently in the possession of Sir Kargoth, the Death Knight.   Over the years, a cult of worshippers has arisen to venerate the vile Lord Vecna and work to pave the way for his return, for they believe that he will return one day. For the cult, the Eye and the Hand are powerful relics worth obtaining at any cost, and will be needed by their master, if not being instrumental in opening the way for Vecna's return. Their servants are always watchful for any reappearance of the Eye or Hand, eager to track down and snatch them up from whomever possesses them.